The Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter, NSDAR, has dedicated numerous DAR markers to commemorate historical events in Fort Wayne.
Wayne Trace
A bronze plaque mounted on a large stone dredged from the Saint Mary’s River, this marker denotes the old Indian trail used by the armies of Generals Harmar (1790), Wayne (1791), and Harrison (1812). DAR members presented the monument to the city in 1906, and placed it in Selling Park at Wayne Trace and New Haven Avenue. After someone damaged the marker in both 1990 and 1993, the city park board moved it away from the intersection. The marker reads:
ONCE THE INDIAN TRAIL TO CINCINNATI
THE ROUTE
OF GENERAL HARMAR’S ARMY IN 1790
OF GENERAL WAYNE’S
WHEN LEAVING THE STOCKADE
CHRISTENED BY MAJOR HAMTRAMCK
“FORT WAYNE” IN 1794
ALSO OF GENERAL HARRISON’S ARMY
IN 1812
ERECTED BY
MARY PENROSE WAYNE CHAPTER
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1906
Harmar’s Defeat
The Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter, NSDAR, erected this marker at 1000 Edgewater Avenue at Dearborn Street on October 22, 1916. It reads:
TO THE MEMORY OF
MAJOR JOHN WYLLYS
AND HIS BRAVE SOLDIERS WHO
WERE KILLED NEAR THIS SPOT
IN THE BATTLE OF
HARMAR’S FORD
OCTOBER 22, 1790
WITH THE MIAMI INDIANS UNDER
CHIEF LITTLE TURTLE
ERECTED BY THE MARY PENROSE WAYNE
CHAPTER D.A.R. IN THE CENTENNIAL
YEAR 1916
Last French Fort
The chapter placed this marker at the intersection of St. Joseph Boulevard and Parnell Avenue on June 14, 1922. The text of the tablet reads:
SITE OF THE LAST FRENCH FORT
ERECTED 1750, BY CAPTAIN RAIMOND.
SURRENDERED TO THE BRITISH
UNDER LIEUTENANT BUTLER, IN 1760.
ENSIGN RICHARD HOLMES AND BRITISH
GARRISON MASSACRED BY
MIAMI INDIANS IN 1763.
THE MOST SEVERE ENGAGEMENT OF BATTLE
BETWEEN GEN. JOSIAH HARMAR
AND MIAMIS UNDER LITTLE TURTLE
FOUGHT HERE, OCT. 22, 1790.
TABLET ERECTED BY
MARY PENROSE WAYNE CHAPTER
DAUGHTERS OF THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION JUNE 14, 1922
Revolutionary War Soldiers
To commemorate the Revolutionary War soldiers buried in Allen County, the Daughters erected a boulder-mounted bronze plaque and a flag pole in the yard at Swinney Homestead on West Jefferson Boulevard on September 22, 1928. Sue Vesta Hanna completed the research on the soldiers. The Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter, NSDAR, moved this marker to the Veterans National Memorial Shrine at 2122 O’Day Road on August 20, 2000; the Betsy Ross flag and flagpole were dedicated there on November 11, 2000. The plaque reads:
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY
OF THE FOLLOWING
REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS
BURIED IN ALLEN COUNTY
MICHAEL CRONTS
JAMES BALL
CHARLES WEEKS, SR.
WILLIAM BERRY
SAMUEL BIRD, SGT.
JAMES SAUNDERS
GURDIN BURNHAM, SGT.
DAVID BLAIR
DAVID BRYANT
ERECTED BY
MARY PENROSE WAYNE CHAPTER
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
MCMXXVIII
Post Miami – The First French Fort
The Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter, NSDAR, erected the original plaque on the southwest corner near the Van Buren Street bridge over the Saint Mary’s River on September 16, 1932. After the original marker was lost in a flood, the chapter replaced the original with a large, white metal sign on June 12, 1983. This sign is located on the southeast corner of the bridge in Guldlin Park. The text of the marker reads:
POST MIAMI
THE SITE OF THE FIRST FRENCH FORT
BUILT ABOUT 1680
COMMANDANTS 1680-1697: JEAN BAPTISTE VISANT, SIEUR
DeVINCENNES, FRANCOIS-MARGANE, SIEUR DeVINCENNES.
1725; ENSIGN DOUVILLE, 1734; ENSIGN DuBUISON.
IN 1747, SAVAGES BURNED THE FORT BUT IT WAS REBUILT.
DeRAIMOND WAS COMMANDANT IN 1748.
IN 1750 THE BUILDINGS OF THE FORT WERE ABANDONED
AND BECAME THE CENTER OF COLDFOOT VILLAGE, AN
INDIAN SETTLEMENT, PRESIDED OVER BY CHIEF COLDFOOT.
M. DeRAIMOND ERECTED THE LAST FRENCH FORT ON ST.
JOSEPH RIVER AT THE INTERSECTION OF THE PRESENT
ST. JOE BLVD. AND DELAWARE AVE.
1983
ERECTED BY MARY PENROSE WAYNE CHAPTER
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
General Anthony Wayne’s Fort
After a statewide contest to locate the most significant, unmarked historical site in Indiana, the Indiana State DAR placed a large boulder with a bronze tablet at the corner of Clay and Berry Streets on April 6, 1934. The marker indicates the site of Anthony Wayne’s 1794 fort. The marker reads:
THE SITE OF
GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE’S FORT
DEDICATED OCTOBER 22ND 1794
IT WAS THE FIRST
UNITED STATES FORT
NEAR “THREE RIVERS”
THIS FORT COMMANDED
THE SHORTEST PORTAGE
BETWEEN THE ST. LAWRENCE
AND MISSISSIPPI SYSTEMS
A PORTAGE KNOWN TO
THE INDIANS AS “GLORIOUS GATE”
AND A STRATEGIC CROSS-ROADS
IN EARLY TRADE AND EXPLORATION
PRESENTED TO THE CITY OF FORT WAYNE
BY THE INDIANA DAUGHTERS
OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
APRIL 6, 1934
Chief Richardville
Erected in 1942, by the Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter, NSDAR, the marker reads:
RICHARDVILLE
1761-1841
MADE CHIEF OF THE MIAMIS FOR HIS
DARING RESCUE OF A WHITE PRISONER
FROM BURNING AT THE STAKE
ERECTED BY THE
MARY PENROSE WAYNE CHAPTER
OF THE
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1942
Old Fort Wayne Well
On September 12, 1960, Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter, NSDAR, members erected this marker near Clay and East Main Streets. The replica well and a plaque indicate the location of the 1804 and 1815 forts. The marker reads:
OLD FORT WAYNE WELL
THE OLD WELL,
AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN
THE EXISTENCE OF THE FORT
AND ITS PEOPLE,
SAVED THE FORT FROM
INDIAN FIRE BRANDS IN 1812.
FORT WAYNE WAS FIRST BUILT NEARBY IN 1794.
IT WAS REBUILT ON THIS SITE IN
1804 AND 1815.
COURTESY OF
MARY PENROSE WAYNE CHAPTER
DAUGHTERS OF THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1960
Fort Wayne – Fort Dearborn Trail
The Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter, NSDAR, members originally placed this large metal marker on the parkway in front of St. Vincent Villa Catholic Orphanage on August 1, 1969. In 1993, the sign was moved to the former orphanage's grounds, by then the home of the YWCA.
The History Center (Old City Hall)
On December 18, 1988, the Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter, NSDAR, donated artifacts from its “Relic Room,” collected since 1901. Members placed a bronze plaque inside the entrance of the museum to commemorate the gift.
Alexander Ewing Gravesite
This gravesite in Lindenwood Cemetery is the only one in Fort Wayne bearing a special plaque honoring a Revolutionary War soldier. The Ewing Monument is purportedly the tallest and most costly in the cemetery. It marks the graves of twenty members of the Ewing family. Resting on an eight-foot square base of Quincy granite, it is 38 feet high and, at the time of construction, cost $25,000. Artisans created the obelisk from highly polished Scottish granite. At the time of its erection in 1870, observers called it the largest and finest single shaft of Scottish granite in the United States.
A special committee chaired by Sue Vesta Hanna researched the Revolutionary War service of Alexander Ewing. Mrs. Hanna presented the committee’s findings at the 25th-anniversary meeting of the Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter, NSDAR, on June 13, 1926. Members placed a marker commemorating Colonel Ewing’s service at his gravesite on June 24, 1926.
